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POLL: How does a DC snow day affect outside-the-Beltway feds?

Tuesday - 12/10/2013, 9:31am EST

When the Office of Personnel Management makes the decision to close federal offices in the Washington, D.C. region because of snow, federal employees outside the area often deride inside-the-Beltway for their weather wimpiness.

Snow poll

When offices in the Washington, D.C. area are closed, how does that affect agencies outside the area?

It doesn't affect us at all. It's business as usual.

We get less work done. It's hard to reach headquarters or other staff, meetings are postponed, etc.

We get more work done. There's less interference from the D.C. bureaucracy.

But with hundreds of thousands of federal employees spread across the country, Federal News Radio wants to know: Does a D.C. snow day impact the work that you do — wherever you are?

First, some helpful facts and figures.

The D.C. area actually ranks fourth among the the U.S. metropolitan areas with the highest percentages of their workforce made up of federal employees, according to a recent analysis by EMSI and the Martin Prosperity Institute prepared for Atlantic Cities.

Colorado Springs, Virginia Beach and Honolulu all have higher concentrations of federal employees than the D.C. area.

Other areas with high concentrations of federal employees — 10 percent or more of all their employment — include Ogden-Clearfield, Utah; El Paso, Texas; and San Diego, Calif.

So, there are lot of you outside-the-Beltway feds out there. Take our poll on how the closing of D.C. offices affects you. Plus, share your thoughts by clicking here. If you're one of the 85 percent of federal employees outside the area — or a contractor — we want to hear from you.